The kind of headers such as "this will make the conspiracy theorists look like twits" or "so what if the Americans really hate Iran" may have a basis in reality, but it also betrays, yet again, the kind of disdain with which the mainstream media views anything it was not fed on one sheet of A4 with the important bits highlighted in flourescent pen.
As for the substantive points, about national security, etc., yes it is embarrassing, but diplomacy, spying and candid appraisals of the opposition are not new. What is new is the mode of dissemination. Yet again, the worldwide web has escaped the control of those who think they have a right to run the world. They don't like it. They don't like it at all.
There is an odd corollary of this; The more "democractic" the country, the worse this type of leak is. If it had been about the Russians, instead of the US, they would not only have denied it, but they would have accused the opposition of black propaganda and sent out a hit squad to administer a Marie Curie Cocktail (Two parts Polonium, one part vitriol, and a dash of bitter almond). As it is, we get embarrassed about being found out to be not quite as polite as we like to think we are.
Wikileaks has caused alarm, not necessarily because of the revelations, but because "they" have lost control of the agenda. And in a world that should be free, that cannot be a bad thing.
This isn't Wikileaks the national disaster, this is Wikileaks the new red top. (Houdini)
2 comments:
I've read some of what was said, and the over riding feeling is...who gives a shit? We all think Sarkozy and the French are tossers, we all think the Iranians are wankers, and Prince Andrew was rude, according to a US diplomat...so what?
This isn't Wikileaks the national disaster, this is Wikileaks the new red top.
The only people who are getting worked up are Labour supporters and blog mongs who seem to think this is going to embarrass Cameron and the Tories, completely forgetting they are only months in the job and haven't had a chance to do anything yet.
The BBC is keeping to it's usual hypocritical agenda. Sitting on the 'climategate' e mails for months before being dragged into talking about them. Claiming it was theft etc.
They're happy to talk about the wikileaks though as long as they can attack the coalition and talk up old Gordon. I doubt if they would mention any cables attacking the global warming scam although to be fair after the topping and tailing from the 'Guardian' wikileaks filter I doubt if they have anything to worry about there.
Post a Comment